Fairfield Metro Center

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Fairfield/Black Rock Metro Center
(planned)
Station statistics
Address 21 Black Rock Turnpike
Fairfield, CT
Lines Metro-North:
New Haven Line
Parking 1,500
Other information
Services
Preceding station   Metro-North Railroad   Following station
New Haven Line

Fairfield Metro Center is a planned massive 900,000 square feet building complex and possible train station along Metro-North Railroad's New Haven Line in eastern Fairfield, Connecticut. The project has been heavily subsidized by state, federal, and local taxpayer funding. If construction ever commences and the project is completed, it will increase the commercial space inventory in the town of Fairfield by 50%. The proposal includes a railroad station to be located between Fairfield station and Bridgeport station. Many expect that this station would become the new express pick-up from Fairfield heading toward Stamford and Grand Central thereby displacing the longstanding use of the downtown Fairfield station for that purpose. The complex will be accessible by exit 24 of I-95, through the traffic circle at Kings Highway, and a two lane road. The project has been designated as a "major traffic generator" by the CT State Traffic Commission even though ironically the proponents of the project have represented that it would make traffic conditions better. In fact, neigboring City of Bridgeport officials had called the traffic studies "woefully inadequate" during the review process.[1] Bridgeport officials have also asked for a share in the project tax revenues as well due to the stress the project will place on the city but no agreement has been reached to date on the issue.

As a special accommodation to the Metro Center owners, the town created a special high density / high volume zoning district just for this project. The special district allows the planned buildings to tower higher than anything built to date in either the entire town of Fairfield or the neighboring Black Rock section of Bridgeport. The landscape of the area will be changed forever including as it will be viewed from the adjacent Long Island Sound. Part of the plan had included building four office buildings and a Hilton Hotel next to the station but Hilton has reportedly dropped out with ensuing discussions about revising the plans to include high rise residential units that are now in demand from the market.[citation needed] The street address of the site is 21 Black Rock Turnpike. The government owned station will have 1,500 parking spaces built on top of material stockpiled as part of the remediation of the former brownfield site. The building complex will have several parking garages as well to accommodate the expected automobile commuters.

Actual construction of the train station and associated commercial space has yet to begin. The completion date for the station had been expected to be late 2006 or early 2007 but those dates were never met. Numerous projections for completion have been wrong in the past and continue today. [2] [3] [4]

The project has been exteremely controversial for a number of reasons including the fact that it was originated by ConnDOT during the administration of the disgraced former Governor John G. Rowland [5] who was sentenced to federal prison for corruption. The contract for the project was negotiated by Rowland's Public Transportation Bureau Chief, Harry Harris, who was summarily dismissed by Jodi Rell amid allegations that his government business practices seemed to intersect with his personal interests.[6] And more recently in early 2008, numerous local citizens are questioning the project because the well established environmental regulatory processes have been short circuited without question by anyone other than concerned citizens. [7][8] [9] [10][11] [12] [13] Other concerns with the project mention the negative impact on the adjacent neighborhoods of Grasmere in Fairfield and Black Rock in Bridgeport. While property values have been rising in anticipation of the coming train station nobody is dealing with the problem of increased traffic and traffic congestion that will acompany the commercial development. The politicians are dismissing the problem while the residents just hope the problems will somehow magically get solved.[14] [15]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Chris Ciarmiello (2006-03-20). Bridgeport tries to delay train station project. Fairfield Minuteman.
  2. ^ Eleanor Charles (2004-06-20). Train Station Project Moves Ahead. New York Times.
  3. ^ Chris Ciarmiello (2006-03-27). New train station wil be late. Fairfield Minuteman.
  4. ^ Chris Ciarmiello (2005-08-25). Metro Center plan hit with two lawsuits. Fairfield Minuteman.
  5. ^ Rachel Slajda (2008-05-01). Rowland's Secrets. Fairfield Weekly.
  6. ^ Stacey Stowe (2004-06-08). Inquiries Focus on Railroad Station Contract in Connecticut. New York Times.
  7. ^ Audrey Adade (2008-01-31). Environmentalists question Flatto. Fairfield Minuteman.
  8. ^ Andy Brophy (2008-03-02). Metro Center Moving Forward, Despite Foes. Connecticut Post.
  9. ^ Brigid Quinn (2008-02-14). Train delays. Fairfield Minuteman.
  10. ^ Jordan Fenster (2008-04-10). Looking at legal action. Fairfield Minuteman.
  11. ^ Audrey Adade (2008-04-03). Conservation meeting results in showdown. Fairfield Minuteman.
  12. ^ Erin Lynch (2008-04-10). Railroaded?. Fairfield Weekly.
  13. ^ Erin Lynch (2008-04-24). Flatto Fights Back. Fairfield Weekly.
  14. ^ Erin Lynch (2008-05-08). Neutral on a Moving Train?. Fairfield Weekly.
  15. ^ Erin Lynch (2008-04-08). Flatto Publicly Called Out. Fairfield Weekly Blog.

[edit] External links